Overview

Leelee Satterfield seemed to have it all: a gorgeous husband, two adorable daughters, and roots in the sunny city of Memphis, Tennessee. So when her husband gets the idea to uproot the family to run a quaint Vermont inn, Leelee is devastated…and her three best friends are outraged. But she’s loved Baker Satterfield since the tenth grade, how can she not indulge his dream? Plus, the glossy photos of bright autumn trees and smiling children in ski suits push her ...

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Overview

Leelee Satterfield seemed to have it all: a gorgeous husband, two adorable daughters, and roots in the sunny city of Memphis, Tennessee. So when her husband gets the idea to uproot the family to run a quaint Vermont inn, Leelee is devastated…and her three best friends are outraged. But she’s loved Baker Satterfield since the tenth grade, how can she not indulge his dream? Plus, the glossy photos of bright autumn trees and smiling children in ski suits push her over the edge…after all, how much trouble can it really be?

But Leelee discovers pretty fast that there’s a truckload of things nobody tells you about Vermont until you live there: such as mud season, vampire flies, and the danger of ice sheets careening off roofs. Not to mention when her beloved Yorkie decides to pick New Year’s Eve to go to doggie heaven-she encounters one more New England oddity: frozen ground means you can’t bury your dead in the winter. And that Yankee idiosyncrasy just won’t do.

The inn they’ve bought also has its host of problems: an odor that no amount of potpourri can erase, tacky décor, and a staff of peculiar Vermonters whose personalities are as unique as the hippopotamus collection gracing the fireplace mantle. The whole operation is managed by Helga, a stern German woman who takes special delight in bullying Leelee for her southern gentility. Needless to say, it doesn’t take long for Leelee to start wondering when to drag out the moving boxes again.

But when an unexpected hardship takes Leelee by surprise, she finds herself left alone with an inn to run, a mortgage to pay, and two daughters to raise. But this Southern belle won’t be run out of town so easily. Drawing on the Southern grit and inner strength she didn’t know she had, Leelee decides to turn around the Inn, her attitude and her life. In doing so, she makes friends with her neighbors, finds a little romance, and realizes there’s a lot more in common with Vermont than she first thought.

In this moving and comedic debut, Lisa Patton paints a hilarious portrait of life in Vermont as seen through the eyes of a southern belle readers won’t soon forget. Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter is a charming fish-out-of-water tale of one woman who learns to stand up for herself-in sandals and snow boots-against the odds.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In Patton's plucky debut, naïve daddy's girl Leelee Satterfield acquiesces yet again to her spoiled husband, Baker, who wants to move the family of four from Leelee's beloved Memphis to middle-of-nowhere Vermont to buy and run an inn. Leelee grudgingly agrees to keep the inn as is for a year while the former owners, less-than-personable German siblings Helga and Rolf Schloygin, dictate how the delicate Southern belle should run her home and the business. Though readers will initially agree with Helga's stern pointers, they will inevitably adore Leelee as she weathers each storm, gaining backbone while simultaneously shedding the helpless princess persona. Her transformation is (of course) accomplished with the aid of boisterous best friends, unlikely new allies and a heaping helping of girl power. The author is none-too-subtle about the changes (Leelee, for instance, “never, ever would have had the nerve to say any of the things I did if Daddy were still alive”), and, though owing heavily to formula, Patton's novel delivers on its feel-good moments and inspiring fantasies of finally making it on your own. (Oct.)

Kirkus Reviews

Patton debuts with a peachy-keen summer read about a Southern woman's misadventures as a Vermont innkeeper. Leelee Satterfield is a bona fide Memphis gal of the country-club variety, part of the ladies-who-lunch set and not at all eager to leave behind this privileged society. But when her gorgeous, sweet-talking husband Baker wants to buy an inn in Vermont and move up north with their two young girls, Leelee reluctantly acquiesces. She may be slightly spoiled, but she is devoted to her man right down to her well-manicured toes. Vermont proves to be everything she feared it would be-cold and lonely, for a start. As Leelee and Baker take on their misfit roles as innkeepers, predictable comedic chaos and challenges ensue; then an unexpected darker twist leaves Leelee alone and for the first time in charge of her own life. This adds weight to the otherwise just-for-kicks narrative and creates a nice balance: Leelee grapples with major life changes, but she's also as fun and flaky as the peach cobbler she whips up in her inn's restaurant. The book overflows with Southern charm, and although our heroine at times appears flighty and superficial, the obvious importance and profundity of her friendships and her love for her daughters are her saving graces. Leelee slowly comes around to her less fashion-conscious Vermont neighbors, heavy snowfall and actually lifting a finger to make a living. The appearance of a very cute new head chef adds a flirty element of romance, and her colorful best friends from Memphis provide a whirlwind of animated comedy. This sassy, lighthearted romp twists and turns toward a conclusion that is not at all foregone, but is immensely satisfying. Dixie chicks and damnYankees alike will enjoy seeing the world through Leelee's eyes. First printing of 75,000. Agent: Holly Root/Waxman Literary Agency

From the Publisher

Advance Praise for Whistlin’ Dixie in a Nor’easter:

"Funny, heartfelt and loaded with southern charm…You'll laugh out loud at as Leelee Satterfield plants her debutante flag on the snowy fields of Vermont. You'll be whistlin' "more, more!" by novel's end. I promise. "

—Adriana Trigiani, bestelling author of the Big Stone Gap series and Lucia, Lucia

“Just when you think there's nothing new under the sun, here it comes—-the North/South split as seen from a brand new perspective. I absolutely DEVOURED this yummy novel, all at one sitting. Lisa Patton serves up genuine romance, wisdom, and humor at this B&B—-with plenty of smart social observation on the side. Sweet, sassy, and very entertaining!”

—Lee Smith, author of The Last Girls

Lisa Patton draws you into each moment of this wonderfully heartbreaking yet hilarious journey of self-enlightenment. Whistlin’ Dixie is truly a page-turner from beginning to end. —Jeff Bridges

“Memphis belle Leelee heads for Vermont, trading iced tea and kudzu for black ice, black flies, and a winter that lasts well into May. The results? An amusing, touching novel about a steel magnolia who faces an extreme culture clash and must decide if she wants to set down roots in red clay or snow. Whistlin’ in Dixie in a Nor’easter is a fabulous, feel-good read.”

—Karin Gillespie, author of Dollar Daze

"Lisa Patton brings Northerners and Southerners together in this heartwarming and funny tale."

—T. Lynn Ocean, author of the Jersey Barnes series

"In her debut novel Lisa Patton paints a beautiful portrait of friendship, and one woman's journey finding herself, with tears and laughter along the way. I loved it."

—Christopher Cross, Grammy Award-winning Singer-songwriter

Lisa Patton knows her way around "Southern Belles" and "Vermonsters" alike-and spares neither with her humor and wit in this fun romp....a promising debut for comic fiction.

—Tracy McArdle, author of Real Women Eat Beef

"Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter gives you a heroine to root for and a book that keeps you turning pages. A delightful read."

Related Subjects

Meet the Author

More by this Author

LISA PATTON is a Memphis, Tennessee native who spent three years as a Vermont innkeeper until three sub-zero winters drove her back down South. A former promotion director for both radio and TV in Memphis, Lisa also worked as a manager of the Historic Orpheum Theatre. She has over 20 years’ experience working in the music and entertainment business, including several years with five-time Grammy Award-winner Michael McDonald. A graduate of the University of Alabama, Lisa guides walking tours of Historic Downtown Franklin, her hometown in Tennessee. Currently at work on her fourth novel, Lisa is the proud mother of two sons and a little Havanese puppy dog named Rosie. To learn more about her, you can visit Lisa’s Web site.

Falling asleep that night was rough. I lied in bed for hours, staring into the darkness, my husband sound asleep beside me. I wanted to please him. I loved and adored him. And I had for over half my life. But my goodness, this was a tall order. Leaving my home - Memphis Tennessee - for a place where I had never even stepped foot? Not Birmingham, not Atlanta, not Oxford, Mississippi even. Baker was talking about moving all the way up to a place where I didn’t know one soul. And, as I would later find out, was a heck of a lot farther away than I ever imagined.(Continues...)

Reading Group Guide

Leelee Satterfield seemed to have it all: a gorgeous husband, two adorable daughters, and roots in the sunny city of Memphis, Tennessee. So when her husband gets the idea to uproot the family to run a quaint Vermont inn, Leelee is devastated…and her three best friends are outraged. But she’s loved Baker Satterfield since the tenth grade, how can she not indulge his dream? Plus, the glossy photos of bright autumn trees and smiling children in ski suits push her over the edge…after all, how much trouble can it really be?

But Leelee discovers pretty fast that there’s a truckload of things nobody tells you about Vermont until you live there: such as mud season, vampire flies, and the danger of ice sheets careening off roofs. Not to mention when her beloved Yorkie decides to pick New Year’s Eve to go to doggie heaven-she encounters one more New England oddity: frozen ground means you can’t bury your dead in the winter. And that Yankee idiosyncrasy just won’t do.

The inn they’ve bought also has its host of problems: an odor that no amount of potpourri can erase, tacky décor, and a staff of peculiar Vermonters whose personalities are as unique as the hippopotamus collection gracing the fireplace mantle. The whole operation is managed by Helga, a stern German woman who takes special delight in bullying Leelee for her southern gentility. Needless to say, it doesn’t take long for Leelee to start wondering when to drag out the moving boxes again.

But when an unexpected hardship takes Leelee by surprise, she finds herself left alone with an inn to run, a mortgage to pay, and two daughters to raise. But this Southern belle won’t be run out of town so easily. Drawing on the Southern grit and inner strength she didn’t know she had, Leelee decides to turn around the Inn, her attitude and her life. In doing so, she makes friends with her neighbors, finds a little romance, and realizes there’s a lot more in common with Vermont than she first thought.

In this moving and comedic debut, Lisa Patton paints a hilarious portrait of life in Vermont as seen through the eyes of a southern belle readers won’t soon forget. A charming fish-out-of-water tale of one woman who learns to stand up for herself-in sandals and snow boots-against the odds.

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Good Escapism on a Rainy Day

I purchased the book on a whim (being a Southerner, can't even begin to fathom a Vermont winter). It was an enjoyable read. It wasn't a stay-awake-at-night-to-finish book, but the story and writing flow in the manner of a relaxed, entertaining story from a friend.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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LorHuem

Posted February 20, 2011

Peachie Keen Book

I LOVED this book. Interesting, well-written, great dialog between characters, funny, thoughtful, reflective, with great factual information about running an Inn and Vermont. I cannot wait for her next book that is a sequal, and was happy to hear there is one on the way! Why? Because the ending was predictable yet a suprise, and ending but not the end!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted August 7, 2011

Loved it

Good book! GREAT STORY was sad when it ended

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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6293895

Posted August 3, 2011

Loved it!

What a great book! I really enjoyed it. Found myself wishing it wouldn't end.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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GinnyBa

Posted July 25, 2011

Charming andd wittty great characters

I really enjoyed this book Aa bit of Southern chaarm and Vermont quaintnesss.. Great chharacters!!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted January 15, 2010

Another story of a middle aged man who decides to move his wife and two little girls to become the owners of a bed and breakfast in Vermont in the winter to follow his dreams.

The story of another mid-life crisis that just proves no good deed goes unpunished.
Sometimes life just is beyond control and you just have to take it as it goes.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted July 3, 2013

Recommend

Really cute chic flick kind of book. Liked it enough to buy sequel

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted January 17, 2012

??should i??

Seeing all of these reviews make me wonder if i should get the book for my daugter to read! I thinkk i will she should enjoy it as much as i did!!:)

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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cbteach

Posted December 10, 2011

Uplifting and LOL Funny!

I loved this book! I laughed, I cried! The characters are well developed and fun. I found it fast paced full of page turning events. A perfect book to read on a dreary winter day to lift your spirits. I loved it so much, I am starting to read the sequel.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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daysmam

Posted August 6, 2011

Wow

What I really dislike about all these reviews is that some people want to give a complete book report. This really spoils it for the rest of us. Why buy the book? What a review is for is to let the potential buyer know if they liked or disliked the book and why. We do not need a complete play by play of everything that happens in the book. I am very surprised that there is no word limit on these reviews. I cannot be the only one who feels this way. When you think about it, you are really doing the author no favors. All you are doing is costing the author $$ in lost sales. I for one do not want to purchase a book if I already know what happens. Just saying.....some will agree and disagree. I only ask that you think about it before you launch into a tell all review. Thank you and please try not to be offended. Best wishes to everyone.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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Owl1976

Posted February 15, 2011

Very highly recommended!

A very humorous story of a southern belle transplanted to the harsh winter of New England. Lisa keeps you turning the pages and wanting more when your finished reading. Good thing a sequel is on the way!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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DylansMomma

Posted January 16, 2011

Fantastic book!

loved this book. the characters were wonderful. cant wait to read another book by lisa patton.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted March 29, 2010

My Thoughts

I think this book could make into a really cute movie with the right actors/actresses.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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MarieHammond

Posted March 7, 2010

Loved it

My daughter gave this to me to add to my collection of signed first edition books. I really enjoyed the book I think it would make a wonderful romantic movie. Since I live in the South and grew up in the North, I could relate to the stark differences this gal faced. I also went through a divorce, so I could relate to her issues. All in all, I would reocmmend it for a fun, romantic read and one I am confident you would recommend to your friends to read.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted October 24, 2009

Lisa Patton has the potential to be a great writer.

From the very beginning the reader is hooked. Both tender and hilarious, the character of Leelee carries us along through her heartbreaks, adventures, and her courage. The characters are well developed and as a reader I fell in love with them all except for Helga (which was the intention). If you are not from the South, you now have real insight to the strength and hiliarity of the Southern woman. A wonderful read!

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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PClonts

Posted September 19, 2009

A Southern Belle driven from the comfort and security of friends and fimaliarity to a wintery nightmare of deception, abandonment and despair. Her true grit surprisingly rises up to surprise everyone including herself!

Moving from CA to TN several years ago made it easy to relate to the sudden change of surroundings, culture and normalcy Lee Lee experienced. Leaving the coccoon of comfort, friends and familarity reveals what we're made of and Lee Lee's advertures filled me with dread, sympathy and laughter at her hilarious dilemmas. Her friends remained close, despite the geographical distance, and truly cheered her on through the hardest of life's hits. Lisa Patton invites us into her thoughts, fears and victories with each page and when I arrived at the end, I wrote her to ask when the sequal would be published. I'm one who enjoys reading about quirky characters, passionate heriones and stories with happy endings...this book met those needs and then some.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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EML15

Posted September 26, 2014

shallow and snobbery

I did not enjoy this book. I usually enjoy books set in the south. But this one of a Southern belle that moves to Vermont - not so much.
She always looks down at the people of the Northeast. I kept waiting for her attitude to change but it never really does, right up to the end "when I wrapped my arm around her roly-poly back, I felt so much love for her" - Really? always a comment about someone's physical features.
The setting of Vermont is almost a character in itself and the character never stops putting it down.

I originally wanted to read another book by this author but thought I'd start with this first. Now I'm not so sure I want to try another.

Just made me feel aggravated.

Disappointing.....

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pensacolamark

Posted November 1, 2013

meh

It was a nice book but it had an awful dated feel to it. stereotypical 1960 homemakers from Memphis etc. yet it was just published. Is Memphis still full of homemakers who boss their rich husbands around and dote on their children and don't seem to have a thought about the world outside their own little bubble?

nice description of the restaurant business and Vermont in "Mud Season." Been there, done that.

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Anonymous

Posted January 13, 2012

C
No

Not very interesting. Could not finish it. Not good writing. Sorry.

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Charm, charm, and pure charm

Lisa Patton has done it again. Her bestseller, Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'Easter, was an absolutely perfect, entertaining, and fun novel. Now, with this second foray into "Dixie whistlin'" she has brought even more humorous, heartwarming, and hilarious characters into a literary world that has been more than a bit depressing for the past year. Our Dixie heroine has returned in Leelee Satterfield. She and her two children have returned to Memphis because her "trip" to Vermont didn't turn out all that well. When she moved to the frigid cold East with her husband and opened up the Peach Blossom Inn, she had no idea that her journey would end with her husband turning into a philandering jerk, and a woman by the name of Helga (who acted like a true Nazi) trying to wrestle away her popular B&B. The only thing Leelee did find that was good in the East was a stunning man, which is the only person that Leelee misses. Coming home, she stays with her old baby nurse, Kissie, for a while before finding her "legs" and getting a place of her own. Her friends are all back around her at the Memphis Country Club listening to Leelee tell of the mysterious Vermont stranger who stole her heart (yet, she can't seem to get him to return any of her phone calls). This trio of women who have loved and supported Leelee all her young life are still standing 100% behind her, and the conversations that they get into over numerous peach daiquiris are absolutely hysterical. In fact, with this type of sisterhood, all readers will find themselves thinking about the women who offer them advice and share each other's lives. Leelee soon opens another restaurant because of want, need, and more than a bit of advice from her helpful friend. Being a single Mom and wanting the "man who stole her heart" to appear in her neck of the woods makes Leelee's life a bit of a mess. Although she's back in the "world" that she knows like the back of her hand, Leelee soon comes to the realization that even though this is "home," she is still going to have to work to make a successful business, figure out her love life, and raise her girls. This second tale of Leelee allows readers to, once again, have a wonderful time. The characters are vivacious, the story is lovely, and the Memphis charm oozes through every page. Quill Says: Charm, charm, and pure charm. Leelee is a Dixie heroine who never goes out of style!

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